They're friends. But not best friends. And certainly not close enough for Parise to make Suter a groomsman at his wedding this month.

"No, I didn't," he said with a smile when the question was asked at the Minnesota Wild's introductory news conference for the pair Monday, July 9.

The Wild's two major free-agent acquisitions, though, have a mutual respect on the ice and have developed a bond off the ice, as well.

"We've always been friends," Suter said.

They were rivals in high school, became teammates on a junior world championship team and later won Olympic silver medals together. They've played together internationally for Team USA six times, including the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"We played together before on different U.S. teams, we played against each other growing up," Suter said. "We talked over the years about how great it would be to play together, and it finally happened."